Wikinventia — Atlas of discoveries and inventions · Exploration Age

Telescopic astronomy and confirmation of heliocentrism — Galileo Galilei

1610 AD · Transmission: Silenced
AstronomyMethodItalian

Galileo Galilei (Pisa, 1564 – Arcetri, 1642), a mathematician at the University of Padua, points a telescope at the sky in January 1610 and discovers Jupiter's four main satellites — today called the Galilean moons —, mountains on the Moon, the stellar nature of the Milky Way, and the phases of Venus. He publishes the results in Sidereus Nuncius (March 1610), the first astronomical work based on telescopic observation. The phases of Venus are direct proof that Venus orbits the Sun, incompatible with Ptolemy's geocentric model. In 1616 the Inquisition formally declares heliocentrism heretical; in 1633 Galileo is tried and sentenced to recite the penitential psalms weekly. He remains under house arrest until his death. Galileo's institutional condemnation is the most cited historical case of suppression of scientific knowledge by religious authority. Newton explicitly cites his work on kinematics in the Principia.

InstitutionUniversity of Padua; Medici court, Florence
Historical regionRepublic of Venice / Grand Duchy of Tuscany (present-day Italy)
Primary sourceGalilei, G. — Sidereus Nuncius (Venice, Tomaso Baglioni, 1610). Digital facsimile: Linda Hall Library; Galilei, G. — Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (1632)
Secondary sourceDrake, S. — Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography (University of Chicago Press, 1978); MacTutor — Galileo (St Andrews)
Original languageLatin / Italian
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